Spooky Times

I do love making Halloween cards! I also really like making Box Cards because you can incorporate so many different details.

The Mummy Pumpkin stamp is from Stampendous; I'm not sure where the sentiment stamp is from, I inherited them both. I've had the Trick-or-Treaters paper forever, and every Halloween I use a bit of it and carefully hoard the rest! Both Eyeball papers are from a Recollections stack.

Inspiration/Challenges:
DL ART Thankful Thursday Challenge: (2nd & 4th Thurs) #270 Pumpkin
Mod Squad: (Wed 2W) Spooky Halloween
Simon Says Stamp: (Wed) Anything Goes

Thank you for visiting!

Easter at International Art & Soul

This fortnight at the International Art & Soul Challenge our challenge is Easter.

The Peep is an SVG from Miss Kate Cuttables. The base card is from the "Surprise Box" die set from Our Daily Bread Designs.

Inspiration/Challenges:
Country View Crafts' Challenge: (P1) Easter and/or Spring
Mod Squad Challenge: (Wed) 3 Items as Focal Point (my 3 Peeps!)


Thank you for visiting! Hope you'll join us at International Art & Soul,

Christmas Jackalope -- Funny Christmas at International Art & Soul

Our theme this fortnight at the International Art & Soul Challenge is Funny Christmas.

Having grown up spending summers in the Western United States, I have an affinity for the mythical Jackalope. I probably believed in them as long as I believed in Santa!

The sentiment is from a Lawn Fawn set, and Cowboy Santa & the Jackalope are from the Southwest Christmas stamp set by Art Impressions. The base card is from the "Surprise Box" die set from Our Daily Bread Designs. The patterned paper is a double-sided sheet from Authentique. The little cactus is from a Recollections die/embossing set.

Love this photo... caught our neighbor's cat in the background!

Challenges/Inspiration:
Animal Friends Challenge #68: Winter + Animal
Papercraft Challenges #25: Lots of Dimension

Thank you for visiting! Hope you'll join us at International Art & Soul,

Glowing for Hanukkah

I live just up the street from a wonderful little gift store, Mondo Deco, and the owners have been very generous in carrying & displaying my cards. I made sure they had plenty of my Holiday cards in stock for Small Business Saturday, including this glow-in-the-dark Hanukkah card.

The base card & pieces were cut on my BigShot with the "Surprise Box" die set from Our Daily Bread Designs. The Menorah is a rubber stamp that I stamped in blue ink & colored with Copic markers. Some of the stars are covered in glow-in-the-dark glitter, and the silver background around the Menorah also glows!

Thank you for visiting, and if you're in north Baltimore City, be sure to check out Mondo Deco,

Moochas Gracias -- Pilin' On the Pets and/or Colored Image

The themes this month at Pile It On are Pets and/or Your favorite way to Color an Image. You can choose one or both themes, and you may enter the challenge as many times you like, as long as you are inspired by at least one other Challenge theme. We're sponsored by Dr. Digi's House of Stamps, and I used their cute Cuddly Cow.

I really love using my Copic markers to color images; it's so easy to shade and the blender pen comes in handy for those little mistakes! And although cows aren't traditionally kept as just pets, my cousin lived on a working dairy farm and took her favorite cow with her to get her senior photos!

I used my "Surprise Box" die set from Our Daily Bread Designs, and incorporated a grass die from Elizabeth Crafts with the interior pop-up pieces. I decorated the box with a double-sided sheet of DP from Doodlebug. I created the sentiment myself.

Wondering why the cute cow is purple & golden yellow? As you may know, I'm expecting our first child, and my Aunt & Uncle sent us a baby coverall featuring the Minnesota Vikings. This is sort of a family joke, because my Aunt & Dad are originally from Wisconsin, and being a Green Bay Packers fan is practically family heritage. There was some smack-talking between family members when I posted about the gift on Facebook! So I had to keep up the joke...notice that I used "bay" green for the base card and "cheese" gold (Packers colors) for the message section!

Inspiration/Challenges:
2 Crafty Critter Crazies #20: (P1) Anything Goes with a Critter
DL ART Thankful Thursday Challenge #237: (last Thurs/M) Always Thankful
Pile It On: (Sat before 1st Sun/M) Your favorite way to Color an Image (Copic Markers)
Simply Create Too #144: (1st Fri/M) More than One Fold
Unicorn Challenge: (P1) Use a Sentiment

Thank you for visiting! Hope you'll join us at Pile It On,

Santa Llama in a Box -- Wild Animals at International Art & Soul

Our theme this fortnight at the International Art & Soul Challenge is Wild Animals. Although lots of llamas are domesticated now, a Santa Llama does seem pretty "wild"!

The llama and succulents are from two Recollections die/embossing sets. This time, I cut the llama from a black-frosted white Core-Dinations cardstock, sanded it to reveal the white core on the raised portions, and colored in the debossed details with fine makers.

The santa hat & xmas lights are stickers from my stash. I heat-embossed the sentiment (Latina Crafter) in green onto silver paper, die-cut the banner, and edged it with red glitter embossing powder. The patterned paper is from Authentique. The base card is from the "Surprise Box" die set from Our Daily Bread Designs, and I cut it from a silver cardstock. I added the adorable llama Washi tape to the pop-up strips.

Thank you for visiting! Hope you'll join us at International Art & Soul,

Year of the Brown Earth Dog

In the Chinese calendar, 2018 is a Year of the Brown Earth Dog. A friend recently got a dog, so I combined the occasions to make this for her. The hedgehog (Penny Black stamp) & gold-and-burgunday flowers are because she also has a hedgehog named Hedgie Potter!
I used my "Surprise Box" die set from Our Daily Bread Designs. I decorated it with two of my favorite papers from my stash.

The sentiment was cut from a paper covered with an adhesive sheet with a Spellbinders die and coated in flocking. I added brown Flowersoft to the dog (another Spellbinders die) & hedgehog.

Inspiration:
Dragonfly Journeys #112: Year of the Dog

Penny Black Saturday Challenge: Anything Goes with a Penny Black stamp + optional: Scraps

 

Thank you for visiting & best wishes to you in 2018,

Royal Shadow - Texture at International Art & Soul Challenge

Our theme this fortnight at the International Art & Soul Challenge, chosen by DT member Hazel, is Texture. I used both visual texture & tactile texture.

This card references two special events occurring this weekend: Groundhog Day & Super Bowl LII. The "dirt" paper is actually from an [American] Football-themed box I got from Amazon Prime last year; I just couldn't throw it away, and stripped the top portion off of the corrugated sheet so that I could easy die-cut it. The grass-patterned paper is (coincidentally) from a Football-themed DP by HOTP. America's own weather-predicted rodent says we're having more winter weather...as long as it doesn't get too cold, I'm fine with that — fewer bugs & allergies!

I've really been enjoying making Box Cards/Card in the Boxes, and just had to use one of my favorite seasonal images from MelJen's Designs. I used flocking and Flower Soft to add texture. 

I used my "Surprise Box" die set from Our Daily Bread Designs. Although just "smooshing" the tabs into the box portion works just fine, when I have more patience I use this method to add the tabs while constructing the box. 

click to enlarge

I prefer to use a traditional paper glue (Tacky, Elmer's, Mod Podge) for this step, because it allows you to move the strips temporarily but is permanent when dry. Add some weight to it for a few minutes to get to adhere and lie flat. Tape or silicone glues can't always withstand the movement of this card; but they're great from adding the layers & embellishments since they won't add moisture to your paper. To make elements "float" just use any scrap plastic.

Inspiration/Challenges:

Crafter's Cafe #189: Humorous
WordArt Wednesdays #320/321: Anything Goes

Update: This was chosen as a Top 3 at Crafter's Cafe!

Thank you for visiting! Hope you'll join us at International Art & Soul,

Marlboro Coyote

I'm not sure how it happened, but Marlboro has been sending coupons to my best friend at my mailing address for years. It's one of those random things; neither of us remember why he needed to register so badly for Marlboro Miles that he used my address (he's moved around over the years, but I've stayed in our old, beloved money pit!) or if they got his address some other way ... but we joke about it, and I couldn't resist using their newest mailing to make a card for him. The graphics were so pretty, and worked well with my ODBD "Surprise Box" die set.

I cut the Howling die by Spellbinders/Shapeabilities/InSpire from a shiny gold paper, and used an embossing pen to add gold embossing power to the Moon portion. I backed it with vellum, and added a Starform sentiment sticker that I colored red. The treelines were cut with a Memory Box die. I edged the pieces with a Krylon gold leaf pen (man, this thing has lasted forever!) and cut a message section [not pictured] from white cardstock for the back. I'm sure my friend will have as much fun receiving this as I had making it!

Thank you for visiting,

Chic Invaders -- Digital at International Art & Soul

Our theme this fortnight at the International Art & Soul Challenge is Do Something Digital.

I won a gift certificate from Our Daily Bread Designs from the Coffee Loving Cardmakers' Winter Blog Hop, and used it to buy myself their "Surprise Box" die set. It's so fun to use!

The adorable "Space Invaders in Disguise" digi stamp is a freebie from Wonderstrange. The "Out of this World" sentiment is a free digi stamp from Digital Doodling. The patterned, digital papers are from WeeDesignStudio.

For the third card, I made a old-school computer monitor-inspired sentiment. I die-cut the square pieces, and heat embossed the sentiment (Stampin'D'Amour) in white on the same shiny green paper I used for the base of the other two cards; I used a shiny black base for this card. Can't get enough of these Hipster Invaders!

Inspiration/Challenges:
Crafting By Designs: Out of This World (Outer Space)
Simon Says Wednesday: Add a Sentiment

Thank you for visiting! Hope you'll join us at International Art & Soul,

Smiles across the Miles - Cards at Crafting with Dragonflies

Our challenge this fortnight at Crafting with Dragonflies is Anything goes - Cards only. I made this box card, inspired by my crafting friends around the world!

This [long-hoarded] paper from American Crafts has Australia on a lot of it, which made me think of Hilde and my Crafting with Dragonflies teamies who live there. The "Smile" die cut was a gift from Keti in Slovenia! The Card-in-a-Box die is from Lawn Fawn. The globe-patterned paper is from Authentique.

I created the sentiment "Sending smiles across the miles" with the American Typewriter & Eutemia fonts, and die-cut it with a banner die from a patterned vellum. The globe & plane are from an in'spire/Spellbinders emboss/die set. I used pieces of acetate to make the pop-ups "float" above the strips.

For the third card, I used a word die to create a pop-up piece. The washi tapes are from Paper Studio.

Inspiration/Challenges:
Alphabet Challenge: V is for Vellum
Happy Little Stampers: Anything Goes with Dies
WordArt Wednesdays #318/319: Anything Goes

Thank you for visiting & hope you'll join the fun at Crafting with Dragonflies, 

Hole in One

I've wanted to make a golf-themed card-in-a-box for a while & finally got some of my favorite things together! I used a dragon stamp (Dustin Pike) that I've had for years, my mom's golf cart dies (Memory Box), and this great patterned Designer Paper (AdornIt) that I've had for at least a year. I made the base card by hand from the double-sided DP. I colored the image & die-cuts with Copic markers. The inside pop-up piece is green cardstock that I dry-embossed & inked with 2 greens. I decorated the bottom panels with plastic sushi grass.

Inspiration/Challenges:
Crafty Calendar January Challenge: Mythical Creatures
Simon Says Wednesday: Patterned Paper

Thank you for visiting!